(trueconservativepundit)
— If you've been feeling like you just don't have enough "smart"
devices spying on you every day, I have great news. "Smart coolers" may
be coming to a store near you.

Years ago, you would have sounded
like a lunatic if you said that a refrigerator was watching you. But,
like other new technology, yesterday's serious mental health symptom is
today's reality.

Walgreens is piloting a new line of "smart
coolers", which are refrigerators equipped with cameras that scan
shoppers' faces and make inferences on their age and gender. On January
14, the company announced its first trial at a store in Chicago. The
drugstore chain plans to put the coolers in stores in New York,
Seattle, and San Francisco by the end of January.

So far, 15
large advertisers have signed up to test the Cooler Screens platform,
including Nestlé SA, MillerCoors LLC, and Conagra Brands Inc.
While Cooler Screens is currently only in Walgreens stores, the company
is looking to get their product in additional chains as well.See full story

Alleged NYC Subway Shooter, A Suspected MS-13 Member, Out On Bail At Time Of Murder

(Fox
News) — The suspected MS-13 gang member accused in the brazen Sunday
afternoon shooting of a rival on a New York City subway platform was
reportedly free on $2,500 bail at the time after being busted on
attempted murder and other charges in December.

Police on
Tuesday identified the gunman in the shocking daytime attack as
26-year-old Ramiro Gutierrez. Gutierrez is set to face charges of
second-degree murder, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon
in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Abel Mosso, who
authorities said was a member of the rival 18th Street Gang.

The
midday attack – which happened in front of terrified and screaming
commuters – occurred in an area of New York City's Queens borough where
the two gangs have been battling for influence. One subway passenger's
graphic video of the incident has been widely circulating on social
media.

Gutierrez was taken into custody Monday and charged early
Tuesday morning – but authorities revealed Gutierrez was known to law
enforcement months before the fatal subway shooting.See full story

Democrat 'Rain Tax' Likely To Become Reality In New Jersey

ELIZABETH,
N.J. (CBS NY) — New Jersey is one of the highest taxed states in the
country. Now, residents and businesses could be taxed extra … when it
rains.

Save it for a rainy day. Some of your hard-earned dollars
may be taken away as the weather turns ugly and rain drops fall on the
Garden State. A new bill calls for the creation of local or regional
storm water utilities, giving local counties and municipalities the
power to collect a tax from properties with large paved surfaces such
as parking lots, CBS2's Meg Baker reported. That's businesses and
homeowners.

The bill passed in the Senate and the Assembly and is now headed to Gov. Phil Murphy's desk.

“With
all the salt that we’ve had on roads recently, that’s all running into
the sewer systems. So you can’t ignore problems because they don’t go
away,” Senate President Steve Sweeney said. See full story

Government Workers Busted At PortMiami Trying To Get On Cruise To Sell Drugs

(Sun
Herald) — Two government contractors from Washington, D.C., were
intercepted by federal agents on Sunday as they tried to board a cruise
ship with an array of drugs they planned on selling to passengers,
police said.

Their downfall, according to police: intercepted emails in which the two discussed their plan on government-issued computers.

Police said both men were government contractors, though their arrest reports don’t say which agency employed them.

The
Homeland Security special agent who intercepted the emails said their
strategy was “to smuggle the narcotics into the ship and distribute it
once on board the ship,” according to their arrest reports.

The ship the men were trying to board wasn’t named in the reports.See full story

Downtown L.A. Typhus Outbreak Spreads To City Hall, May Force Removal Of All Carpets

(KTLA-5)
— All carpets at Los Angeles City Hall may need to be replaced amid a
Typhus outbreak that may have infected one city employee while at work,
according to a motion filed by Council President Herb Wesson on
Wednesday.

Wesson first became aware of a vermin issue in
November 2018, contacted pest control experts and removed all his
office's carpets, according to the motion.

The motion reported
cleanup issues and a noticeable increase in rodents in the area, which
could have contributed to the outbreak.

Los Angeles county
health officials first reported a Typhus outbreak in downtown Los
Angeles in October 2018, the year there were 142 Typhus cases in Los
Angeles County alone, according to a study by the California Department
of Public Health. See full story

Water Dept. Uncovers Two-Century-Old Wood Water Main

ALBANY
(Times Union) — City water department employees were about five feet
beneath the asphalt on Broadway when they came across something they
weren't expecting: a log.

"As soon as we saw it, I thought,
'Well, that can't be an old telephone pole,'" said Joseph Coffey, the
department's commissioner.

They pulled out the log, which was
about six feet long and hollowed out, only to learn that it was a piece
of Albany's history as well as a testament to how far we've come in
water infrastructure over the past three centuries. It was a wood water
main, likely from the 1700s.

"Wood water mains go way back,"
Coffey said. "It reminds us that Albany was an older urban settlement."
The colonial-era main was found Friday morning as crews worked to
connect the former Argus building, 412 Broadway, to the city sewer
system. See full story

Lawyer Forces Evacuation Of Courthouse After 'Abundance' Of Bed Bugs Pour From His Suit

(Global
News) — An Oklahoma courthouse was forced to evacuate after a
nonchalant lawyer arrived to a courtroom with an "abundance" of bed
bugs falling out of his clothing.

Rogers County Courthouse was
evacuated and eventually closed Monday after a lawyer brought in the
blood-sucking insects to a third-floor courtroom.

"Hard
to imagine someone doesn't know, you know, that some bed bugs are
crawling all over them certainly in abundance," Walton said.

The sheriff told NewsOn6 that another person in the courtroom was first to spot the biting insects on the lawyer. See full story

Millennials Prefer Music From 20th Century 'Golden Age' To The Pop Of Today

(Metro [UK]) — Research has suggested that modern music really isn't as good as the old classics.

A study has found that golden oldies stick in millennials' minds far more than the relatively bland, homogenous pop of today.

A
golden age of popular music lasted from the 1960s to the 1990s,
academics claimed. Songs from this era proved to be much more memorable
than tunes released in the 21st century.

Scientists tested a group of millennials on their ability to recognise hit records from different decades.

The 643 participants, typically aged 18 to 25, maintained a steady memory of top tunes that came out between 1960 and 1999. See full story

The Magnetic
North Pole Is Hurtling Towards Siberia So Quickly Scientists Have Had
To Release New Data A Year Ahead Of Schedule

(Daily Mail) —
Earth's magnetic North Pole has been wildly shifting towards Russia so
quickly that scientists have been forced to publish an update on its
actual location a year early.

The World Magnetic Model (WMM)
enables compasses to point north and is used in navigation systems. Its
latest update revealed the North Magnetic Pole is wandering about 34
miles a year. It crossed the international dateline in 2017 and is
leaving the Canadian Arctic on its way to Siberia.

This is
causing a navigational nightmare for compasses in smartphones, boats
and for airport navigators as well as in some consumer electronics, and
WMM was forced to update a year early in order to keep it accurate.

WMM provides a five year forecast of changes to the
Earth's magnetic field. The U.S. and UK tend to update the location of
the North Magnetic Pole every five years in December, but this update
came early because of the pole's faster movement.See full story

Man Caught On Camera Faking Fall At Work

(UPI)
— A New Jersey man is facing charges after he was caught on camera
throwing ice on the ground and faking a slip and fall in an alleged
fraud scheme.

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said
Alexander Goldinsky, 57, was working as an independent contractor at a
business in Woodbridge when a security camera recorded the incident.
The footage shows Goldinsky throw ice on the ground, carefully arrange
himself on the floor and then wait to be discovered.

The prosecutor's office sad Goldinsky filed a false insurance claim for an ambulance ride and treatment at a local hospital.

"Fraudulent
claims cost everyone and we will aggressively prosecute those who
illegally manipulate the system," prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said.

The prosecutor's office said Goldinsky is facing charges of insurance fraud and theft by deception.See full story